High-low back for chair

ABSTRACT

A lounging chair usually has a high back extending upwardly from a seat so as to be engaged by the shoulders and head of an occupant when reclining in the chair. Such a high back on a chair usually does not fit well in a room having low backs on the davenport, setees, chairs and like. The present invention pertains to a lounging chair which has a low hollow back in which an extensible back section is pivotally mounted for swinging movement rearwardly, upwardly and forwardly in extension of the top of the back frame when the back is tilted toward reclined position. After the back section is moved to extended position it is locked to the back frame and will move therewith to reclined position moving the seat forwardly and upwardly. The initial movement of the seat forwardly unlatches the back section and permits the back frame to move to seating position which returns the back section to within the back frame where it is locked when the back frame is in seating position. A leg rest may be extended forwardly when the back frame is reclined to provide a complete reclining position for the chair occupant.

United States Patent Shoemaker et al.

HIGH-LOW BACK FOR CHAIR Inventors: Edwin J. Shoemaker, Monroe;

Harold P. Ruble, Deerfield; David B. White, Monroe, all of Mich.

La-Z-Boy Chair Company, Monroe, Mich.

Filed: May 29, 1973 Appl. No.: 364,644

Related US. Application Data Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 323,139, Jan. 12, 1973, abandoned.

Assignee:

U.S. Cl. 297/61, 297/1 12 Int. Cl. A74c 1/02 Field of Search 297/61, 83, 84, 86, 87,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1958 Knabusch et a1. 297/322 5/1959 Spound et a1 297/61 5/1961 Bontempi et al. 297/61 2/1966 Fletcher 297/87 12/1967 Knabusch ct al. 297/84 X 2/1972 Flanagan et a1. 297/317 X Primary Examiner-Roy D. Frazier Assistant Examiner-William E. Lyddane Attorney, Agent, or FirmHarness, Dickey & Pierce {57] ABSTRACT A lounging chair usually has a high back extending upwardly from a seat so as to be engaged by the shoulders and head of an occupant when reclining in the chair. Such a high back on a chair usually does not fit well in a room having low backs on the davenport, setees, chairs and like. The present invention pertains to a lounging chair which has a low hollow back in which an extensible back section is pivotally mounted for swinging movement rearwardly, upwardly and for wardly in extension of the top of the back frame when the back is tilted toward reclined position. After the back section is moved to extended position it is locked to the back frame and will move therewith to reclined position moving the seat forwardly and upwardly. The initial movement of the seat forwardly unlatches the back section and permits the back frame to move to seating position which returns the back section to within the back frame where it is locked when the back frame is in seating position. A leg rest may be extended forwardly when the back frame is reclined to provide a complete reclining position for the chair occupant.

10 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures u A, K 4;

RELATED APPLICATION This is a continuation-in-part application of copending application, Ser. No. 323,139, filed Jan. I2, 1973, now abandoned, and is assigned to the assignee thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Reference may be had to the E. M. Knabusch, et al. US. Pat. No. 2,863,495 which, along with the art cited therein, provides teaching of extensible backs for seats as do prior art U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,884,992; 2,958,374; 2,982,340 and 3,024,064.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention pertains to a chair structure having a base frame, a back frame, a seat frame and a leg rest. Parallel linkage is supported by the chair frame for supporting and manipulating the leg rest to forward extended position by the operation ofa handle at the side of the base frame. The back frame is supported on linkage which is pivoted to each side of the base and seat frames which permits the back frame to be pivoted rearwardly and downwardly to reclining position while moving the seat frame as well as the leg rest and its supporting linkage means upwardly and forwardly. The back frame is hollow and opened at the rear and top so that a back section can be nested therein when supported on parallelogram links. The lower pair of links has a slot in which an operating element at the top end of a pair of operating rods extend the opposite ends of the rods being secured to a cross tube having each end secured to an arm ofa bellcrank. The bellcrank is operated when the back frame is initially moved to raise the seat frame and move the back section to extended position. The movement also releases a hook from the linkage at each side of the seat frame and permits the back frame to move to reclined position.

Each of a pair of plates have an arucate slot therein located adjacent to the pivot of the lower links in such position as to have the longitudinal slots therein bisect the arcuate slots. The projecting element on the operating rods extend through the longitudinal slots into the arcuate slots. When the back and seat frames are initially moved toward reclined position the back section is unlocked when the projecting elements move from the bottom extensions into the arcuate slots and swung upwardly and inwardly to a position over the top of the back frame. The back section is locked in this position when the operating element is moved into the slot extensions at the top of the arcuate slots. The extended back section, the back frame and the operating rods are in fixed relation to each other when the back frame is further moved to reclined position. The back frame will be raised from reclining position to upright position when the weight of the occupant is moved forward on the seat frame which will swing down and to the rear returning the back section to nested position in the back frame. The end of this movement moves the operating elements into the bottom straight portion of the arcuate slots to lock the back section in nested position within the back frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in elevation of a chair frame with the extensible back section nested in the back frame when in upright position embodying features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a reduced view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1 with the back section moved to extended position;

FIG. 3 is a view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 2 with the back frame in reclined position and with the seat frame in raised, forward position;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the mechanism between the base frame and seat and back frames at the lefthand side of the chair;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the mechanism between the back frame and back section at one side of the seat, and

FIG. 6 is a reduced view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 3, with the back frame, back section and seat frame in completely inclined position and with the leg rest extended.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A chair ll ofthe reclining type has a base frame l2, a seat frame 13 and a back frame 14. The seat frame 13 and back frame 14 are interconnected at each side of the base frame 12 by linkage means 15. The seat frame 13 has a rear bracket 16 to which a lever 17 is secured by a pivot 18, the upper end of the lever 17 being secured to the back frame by a screw 19. The lever 17 is also secured by a pivot 21 to the back frame and to a bracket 22 which is secured by screws 23 to the base frame 12. The bracket 16 also has a bellcrank 24 secured thereto by a pivot 25. The lower ends of the bellcranks 24 are interconnected by a crossbar or tube 26. The upper end of the bellcrank 24 is secured by a pivot 27 to the rear end of a link 28 having a downwardly extending end 29 containing a bushing 31 which is disposed within a slot 32 in a link 33 which is secured to the angularly disposed end of the lever 17 by a pivot 34. The link 33 is bent downwardly beyond the slot 32 to provide a downward extension 35 which is secured by a pivot 36 to the end of one arm 56 of a bellcrank 37. The other arm of the bellcrank is secured by a pivot 40 to a plate 39 which is secured to the base frame l2 by a plurality of screws 41.

A bracket 42 is secured to each side of the forward portion of the seat frame 13 to which a link 43 is secured by a pivot 44. The opposite end of the link 43 is secured by a pivot 45 to the apex of the bellcranks 37 where the base of the two arms join. A spring 46 has one end secured in an aperture through a finger 47 extending downwardly from the bracket 16, the oppostie end being connected to the end 48 of a C-shaped link 50 of the leg rest operating mechanism. A second spring 49 has one end connected to the forward end of the link 28 and to an extension on the pivot 45.

A hook link 51 is secured by a pivot 52 to the upper portion of the downwardly extending end of the link 33 having the end opposite to that containing the hook secured by a pivot 53 to a link 54 which is secured by a pivot 55 to the arm 56 of the bellcrank 37. The hook of the link, as illustrated in FIG. 1, is in engagement with the bushing 31 on the end of the downwardly extending portion 29 of the link 28 when the back is in erect position. This stabilizes the linkage system so that all of the links are properly oriented when the back section is moved to upright position illustrated in FIG. 1. The movement of the back section on the back frame upwardly into extended position by the tilting of the back frame moves the hook on the end of the hook link 51 from engagement with the end of the bushing 31. The swinging of the bellcrank 37 by the movement of the arm 56 thereof swings the link 43 forwardly and upwardly moving the seat 13 forwardly and upwardly therewith.

The back frame 14 embodies two side members 59 interconnected by a cross member 57 at the bottom and by an arcuate cross member 58 at the top. The side members 59 of the back frame are spanned by sinuous type springs (not shown) which extend forwardly thereof with the upholstered material placed thereover and over the sides in the usual manner. This leaves the inside of the back frame hollow and open to the rear for supporting a back section 61 which is mounted to move rearwardly, upwardly and forwardly over the top of the back frame, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The back section 61 is herein illustrated as being made from a plywood board 62 which has an arcuate extension 63 at the rear top edge. The board 62 has a bracket 64 at each side containing forwardly extending fingers 65 and 66 to which bottom links 67 are secured by pivots 68 and top offset links 69 are secured by pivots 71. The links are mounted by pivots 70 to plates 72 which are secured to each inner face of the back frame side members 59 by screws 73. A roller or other projecting element extends through longitudinal slots 80 in the links 67 for travel in an arcuate slot 75 in the plates 72 having a center adjacent to the lower pivots 70 with extensions 76 and 77 at the lower and top ends, respectively. The rollers or projections 74 are carried on one end of rods 78 which are interconnected near the top by a cross rod 79. Brackets 81 on the tube 26 through which the lower end of the rods 78 pass secure the ends in predetermined relation to the ends of the crossbar or tube 26.

When the back frame is in upright position, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the initial movement thereof moves the back section 61 upwardly moving the roller or projection from the extension 76 of the slot 75 to unlock the roller or projection which will travel along the arcuate portion of the slot and operate the links 67 to swing the back section 61 from the position illustrated in FIG. 1 to that shown in FIG. 2. In this position the roller or projection 74 moves into the top extension 77 to lock the back section 61 in extended position. The back section 61 moves forwardly at the end of its upward movement over the top edge of the back frame in an upward extension thereof. The rollers or projections 74 move within the top extensions 77 of the slots 75 and thereby lock the back section in extended position, as illustrated in FIG. 2. The back frame and section can then be moved rearwardly and downwardly along with the rods 78 in fixed relation therewith to completely reclining movement, as illustrated in FIG. 3.

When in the position illustrated in FIG. 3, the operating handle (not shown) rotates a shaft 82 to extend the links 83 and move the leg rest 84 forwardly of the seat frame so that a complete reclining position for the occupant of the lounging chair may be had, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

The forward movement of the occupant on the seat frame will cause it to move downward and backward to move the back frame to the erect position illustrated in FIG. 2. The forward weight on the seat frame 13 moves the rollers or projections 74 downwardly from the slot extension 77 and permits the back section 61 to be swung downwardly and forwardly into nested position within the back frame and locked therein, as illustrated in FIG. 1. The leg rest may be retracted before or after this final movement by the manipulation of the handle in the reverse direction from that by which it was ex tended. The leg rest 84 has not been described herein in detail as a description thereof is found in the patent to E. M. Knabusch, et al., US. Pat. No. 3,357,739 for LOUNGE CHAIR. The links 83 are secured to the seat frame 13 on the bracket 42 to have the leg rest and its link mechanism move therewith. In the final movement of the back frame and section from the position illustrated in FIG. 2 to that illustrated in FIG. I, the link 54 will cause the hook link 51 to swing back to its initial position illustrated in FIG. I with the hook extending over the bushing 31 in secured latched position in which it will remain until the back section is moved to extended position.

The base frame, seat frame, back frame, back section and leg rest are all upholstered in the usual manner with the exception that the back frame is open from the rear for the nesting of the back section therein. The back frame is completely upholstered as well as the back section so that when nested the back section will hardly be recognized as a separate element. When the back section 61 is extended, its upholstery matches that of the back frame the inside of which is preferably upholstered in the same material. It will be noted that the seat frame 13 is in its downwardmost retracted position in FIG. I and has moved slightly forwardly and up wardly when the back frame is initially moved to the rear to move the bellcrank 56 clockwise and the rod 78 upwardly to move the roller or projection 74 upwardly into the arcuate slot to unlock the back section 61. The further initial rearward movement of the back frame moves the back section 61 to the position illustrated in FIG. 2. The seat is moved substantially further upwardly and forwardly when the back frame 12 is moved to reclined position, as illustrated in FIG. 6. Maximum comfort is provided for the occupant when the chair 11 is in completely inclined position and the leg rest 84 has been extended forwardly, as illustrated in the Figure.

We claim:

I. In a chair, a base frame, a seat frame, and a back frame, linkage means for interconnecting said back and seat frames for movement relative to each other, said back frame having spaced side members forming a hollow back which is open rearwardly, a back section, upper and lower pairs of links, a pair of plates secured to the inner surfaces of said side members, pivot means securing the upper ends of said pairs of links to said pair of plates and the lower ends to said back section, said pair of plates have an arcuate slot located adjacent to the pivots thereon which support the lower pair of links, said lower pair of links having a longitudinal slot crossing said arcuate slots, operating rods having means at the upper ends projecting through both said slots, and means connecting the lower ends of said operating rods to said seat frame the movement of which relative to the back frame produces the movement of said operating rods to move the back section relative to said back frame.

2. In a chair as recited in claim 1, wherein said arcuate slots extend downwardly at the bottom for receiving said projecting means for locking said back section in said hollow back of the back frame, the movement of the seat frame relative to the back frame upon initially moving the back frame from seating position moves the projecting means upwardly into the arcuate portion of said slots for releasing the back section so that it may swing into a position of extension with the back frame.

3. In a chair as recited in claim I, wherein said arcuate slots extend upwardly at the top for receiving said projecting means for locking said back section in extension of said back frame by the further movement of said seat frame toward reclining position without any longitudinal movement between said back frame and said operating rod.

4. In a chair as recited in claim 3, wherein said linkage means interconnects the said side members of the back frame with the seat frame to cause it to move further forwardly and upwardly when the back section and back frame are moved to complete reclined position.

5. In a chair as recited in claim 4, wherein a cross bar is adjustably secured to the lower ends of said operating rods, and wherein said means connecting the operating rods to said seat frame are bellcranks having a pair of angularly disposed arms with pivot means therebetween which are secured to opposite sides of said seat frame with one arm of each said pair secured to said cross bar near the ends thereof.

6. In a chair as recited in claim 1, wherein brackets are provided at each side of the seat frame near the forward and rear portions thereof, bellcranks having a pair of angularly disposed arms thereon extending from a central portion, pivot means for securing the central portion of said bellcranks to said rear brackets with the arms disposed upwardly and downwardly, a cross bar pivoted to the downwardly extending arms of the bell cranks. and a first pair of links pivoted to the upwardly extending arms of said bellcranks about which the bellcranks pivot when the seat is initially moved to have the downwardly extending arms of the bellcranks actuate said operating rods.

7. In a chair as recited in claim 6, wherein a lever is secured at each outer side of the back frame, means for pivoting said levers to the base frame with a portion extending downwardly therefrom. a second pair of links each pivoted to the downwardly extending end of said levers and having a slot therein, and a bushing on the forward end of each of said first pair of links which extend into each of said slots and are movable therein.

8. In a chair as recited in claim 6, wherein a second pair of bellcranks each having a pair of angularly disposed arms with the end of one arm pivoted to said base frame, a third pair of links each connected at the junction of the arms of said second pair of bellcranks and to the forward brackets on the seat frame for producing the upward and forward movement thereof when the back frame is tilted to inclined position.

9. In a chair as recited in claim 8, wherein a hook link is pivoted to each of said second links, and fourth links pivoted to the other arms of the second bellcranks and to the hook links to cause the latter to be swung into engagement with said bushings to retain the second links against movement until the back section is moved to raised position.

10. In a chair as recited in claim 8, wherein spaced scissors type of link means are supported on the seat frame front brackets and actuated by a shaft supported on the base frame. and a leg rest supported on the forward ends of said scissors type of link means. 

1. In a chair, a base frame, a seat frame, and a back frame, linkage means for interconnecting said back and seat frames for movement relative to each other, said back frame having spaced side members forming a hollow back which is open rearwardly, a back section, upper and lower pairs of links, a pair of plates secured to the inner surfaces of said side members, pivot means securing the upper ends of said pairs of links to said pair of plates and the lower ends to said back section, said pair of plates have an arcuate slot located adjacent to the pivots thereon which support the lower pair of links, said lower pair of links having a longitudinal slot crossing said arcuate slots, operating rods having means at the upper ends projecting through both said slots, and means connecting the lower ends of said operating rods to said seat frame the movement of which relative to the back frame produces the movement of said operating rods to move the back section relative to said back frame.
 2. In a chair as recited in claim 1, wherein said arcuate slots extend downwardly at the bottom for receiving said projecting means for locking said back section in said hollow back of the back frame, the movement of the seat frame relative to the back frame upon initially moving the back frame from seating position moves the projecting means upwardly into the arcuate portion of said slots for releasing the back section so that it may swing into a position of extension with the back frame.
 3. In a chair as recited in claim 1, wherein said arcuate slots extend upwardly at the top for receiving said projecting means for locking said back section in extension of said back frame by the further movement of said seat frame toward reclining position without any longitudinal movement between said back frame and said operating rod.
 4. In a chair as recited in claim 3, wherein said linkage means interconnects the said side members of the back frame with the seat frame to cause it to move further forwardly and upwardly when the back section and back frame are moved to complete reclined position.
 5. In a chair as recited in claim 4, wherein a cross bar is adjustably secured to the lower ends of said operating rods, and wherein said means connecting the operating rods to said seat frame are bellcranks having a pair of angularly disposed arms with pivot means therebetween which are secured to opposite sides of said seat frame with one arm of each said pair secured to said cross bar near the ends thereof.
 6. In a chair as recited in claim 1, wherein brackets are provided at each side of the seat frame near the forward and rear portions thereof, bellcranks having a pair of angularly disposed arms thereon extending from a central portion, pivot means for securing the central portion of said bellcranks to said rear brackets with the arms disposed upwardly and downwardly, a cross bar pivoted to the downwardly extending arms of the bellcranks, and a first pair of links pivoted to the upwardly extending arms of said bellcranks about which the bellcranks pivot when the seat is initially moved to have the downwardly extending arms of the bellcranks actuate said operating rods.
 7. In a chair as recited in claim 6, wherein a lever is secured at each outer side of the back frame, means for pivoting said levers to the base frame with a portion extending downwardly therefrom, a second pair of links each pivoted to the downwardly extending end of said levers and having a slot therein, and a bushing on the forward end of each of said first pair of links which extend into each of said slots and are movable therein.
 8. In a chair as recited in claim 6, wherein a second pair of bellcranks each having a pair of angularly disposed arms with the end of one arm pivoted to said base frame, a third pair of links each connected at the junction of the arms of said second pair of bellcranks and to the forward brackets on the seat frame for producing the upward and forward movement thereof when the back frame is tilted to inclined position.
 9. In a chair as recited in claim 8, wherein a hook link is pivoted to each of said second links, and fourth links pivoted to the other arms of the second bellcranks and to the hook links to cause the latter to be swung into engagement with said bushings to retain the second links against movement until the back section is moved to raised position.
 10. In a chair as recited in claim 8, wherein spaced scissors type of link means are supported on the seat frame front brackets and actuated by a shaft supported on the base frame, and a leg rest supported on the forward ends of said scissors type of link means. 